Goodwin Liu on poor judgment

Goodwin Liu, UC Berkeley law school professor, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday. According to the Blog of The Legal Times, Liu walked back his damning 2006 testimony against the confirmation of now Justice Sam Alito.

In 2006, Liu had said:

“Judge Alito’s record envisions an America where police may shoot and kill an unarmed boy to stop him from running away with a stolen purse; where federal agents may point guns at ordinary citizens during a raid, even after no sign of resistance; where the FBI may install a camera where you sleep on the promise that they won’t turn it on unless an informant is in the room; where a black man may be sentenced to death by an all-white jury for killing a white man, absent a multiple regression analysis showing discrimination; and where police may search what a warrant permits, and then some. Mr. Chairman, I humbly submit that this is not the America we know. Nor is it the America we aspire to be.”

According to BLT:

Liu was asked about the 2006 statement several times as he testified during his second confirmation hearing for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. In one exchange, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) asked, “Is that a case of poor judgment? Or is it a case of just lack of knowledge and insight?”

“Senator, it was a case of poor judgment,” Liu responded.

At another point, Liu said his conclusion about Alito was “unduly harsh” and inappropriate. “I should have omitted that paragraph,” Liu said, in response to a question from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). “And quite frankly, senator, I understand now more than I did then that strong language like that is not very helpful in this process.”

Liu did not win confirmation last year. So he knows “not very helpful.”